Polyline contour representations for autonomous vehicles

ABSTRACT

Aspects of the disclosure relate to controlling a vehicle having an autonomous driving mode or an autonomous vehicle. For instance, a polygon representative of the shape and location of a first object may be received. A polyline contour representation of a portion of a polygon representative of the shape and location of a second object may be received. The polyline contour representation may be in half-plane coordinates and including a plurality of vertices and line segments. Coordinates of the polygon representative of the first object may be converted to the half-plane coordinate system. A collision location between the polyline contour representation and the polygon representative of the first object may be determined using the converted coordinates. The autonomous vehicle may be controlled in the autonomous driving mode to avoid a collision based on the collision location.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims the benefit of the filing date of U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/889,698, filed Aug. 21, 2019, and isrelated to U.S. application Ser. No. ______, entitled Polyline ContourRepresentations For Autonomous Vehicles, Attorney Docket No. XSDV3.0E-2131 II, filed concurrently herewith, the entire disclosures ofwhich are incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

Autonomous vehicles, such as vehicles which do not require a humandriver when operating in an autonomous driving mode, may be used to aidin the transport of passengers or items from one location to another. Animportant component of an autonomous vehicle is the perception system,which allows the autonomous vehicle to perceive and interpret itssurroundings using various sensors such as cameras, radar, lasers, andother similar devices. For example, autonomous vehicles may use thesensors to gather and interpret images and sensor data about itssurrounding environment, e.g., parked cars, trees, buildings, etc.Information from the perception system may be used by these vehicles toreact to their surroundings by making numerous decisions while theautonomous vehicle is in motion, such as speeding up, slowing down,stopping, turning, etc.

Typically, when determining how to react to its surroundings, anautonomous vehicle's contour is often modeled by a rectangle (whenviewed from the top-down) or a three-dimensional rectangle, which boundsall of the physical aspects of the autonomous vehicle including all ofthe autonomous vehicle's sensors and mirrors. The swept volume of theautonomous vehicle can be determined by approximating the planned pathor planned trajectory of the autonomous vehicle as a series of connectedboxes each representing the location of the autonomous vehicle at adifferent time that are connected to one another. However, this approachmay introduce false positive collisions, especially at the corners ofthe autonomous vehicle as the autonomous vehicle itself is not a perfectrectangle. At the same time, if a more complex polygon is used, such arepresentation may be computationally expensive when analyzing potentialcollisions with other objects in the autonomous vehicle's plannedtrajectory.

SUMMARY

One aspect of the disclosure provides a method of controlling a vehiclehaving an autonomous driving mode. The method includes receiving apolygon representative of the shape and location of an object detectedin an environment of the autonomous vehicle; accessing a polylinecontour representation of the autonomous vehicle representing no morethan half of a contour of the autonomous vehicle in a half-planecoordinate system, the polyline contour representation including aplurality of vertices and line segments; converting coordinates of thepolygon representative of the object to the half-plane coordinatesystem; determining a collision location between the polyline contourrepresentation and the polygon representative of the object using theconverted coordinates; and controlling the autonomous vehicle in theautonomous driving mode to avoid a collision with the object based onthe collision location.

In one example, the polyline contour representation is defined as avehicle width profile drawn from the autonomous vehicle's front bumperto the autonomous vehicle's rear bumper. In this example, the polylinecontour representation has at most two consecutive points that has themaximum y coordinate which is the autonomous vehicle's maximum halfwidth. In addition, the autonomous vehicle's maximum half widthcorresponds to half of a width of the autonomous vehicle measuredbetween the autonomous vehicle's mirrors or lateral sensors. In additionor alternatively, wherein a y coordinate value on the polyline contourrepresentation monotonically increases to a point with a maximum ycoordinate, then monotonically decreases such that the polyline contourrepresentation has at most one peak. In this example, determining thecollision location between the polyline contour representation and therepresentation of the object includes using a front fending polylinecontour representation when the autonomous vehicle is moving forward,wherein the front fending polyline contour representation corresponds toa portion of the polyline contour representation in front of the maximumy coordinate. Alternatively, determining the collision location betweenthe polyline contour representation and the representation of the objectincludes using a rear fending polyline contour representation when theautonomous vehicle is moving in reverse, wherein the rear fendingpolyline contour representation corresponds to a portion of the polylinecontour representation after the maximum y coordinate.

In another example, determining the collision location includes, for aline segment of the polygon representative of the object determining apenetration point (D) into the half-plane coordinate system. In thisexample, the method also includes determining a distance between D and aline segment of the polyline contour representation. In addition oralternatively, the method also includes finding one of the line segmentson the polyline contour representation that has a same penetration depthas D. In another example, when there are multiple collision locationsbetween representation of the object and the polyline contourrepresentation having a same y coordinate, determining the collisionlocation further includes comparing an x coordinate for a firstcollision location to an x coordinate for a second collision location.In another example, the polyline contour representation corresponds to awidth profile of the autonomous vehicle along a centerline of theautonomous vehicle. In another example, an origin of the half-planecoordinate system is located at a point corresponding to a furthest xcoordinate on the autonomous vehicle's front bumper and the greatest ycoordinate representing half of a width dimension of the autonomousvehicle. In another example, the collision location corresponds to oneof the plurality of vertices or line segments. In another example, themethod also includes determining a collision exit location between thepolyline contour representation and the representation of the object,and wherein controlling the autonomous vehicle is further based on thecollision exit location.

Another aspect of the disclosure provides a system for controlling avehicle having an autonomous driving mode. The system includes one ormore processors configured to receive a polygon representative of theshape and location of an object detected in an environment of theautonomous vehicle; access a polyline contour representation of theautonomous vehicle representing no more than half of a contour of theautonomous vehicle in a half-plane coordinate system, the polylinecontour representation including a plurality of vertices and linesegments; convert coordinates of the polygon representative of theobject to the half-plane coordinate system; determine a collisionlocation between the polyline contour representation and the polygonrepresentative of the object using the converted coordinates; andcontrol the autonomous vehicle in the autonomous driving mode to avoid acollision with the object based on the collision location.

In one example, determining the collision location includes, for a linesegment of the polygon representative of the object determining apenetration point (D) into the half-plane coordinate system. In thisexample, the autonomous vehicle's maximum half width corresponds to halfof a width of the autonomous vehicle measured between the autonomousvehicle's mirrors or lateral sensors. In addition, the polyline contourrepresentation is defined as a vehicle width profile drawn from theautonomous vehicle's front bumper to the autonomous vehicle's rearbumper. In addition, the polyline contour representation has at most twoconsecutive points that has the maximum y coordinate which is theautonomous vehicle's maximum half width. In addition, a y coordinatevalue on the polyline contour representation monotonically increases toa point with a maximum y coordinate, then monotonically decreases suchthat the polyline contour representation has at most one peak. Inaddition or alternatively, the system also includes the autonomousvehicle.

Another aspect of the disclosure provides a method of controlling avehicle having an autonomous driving mode. The method includesreceiving, by one or more processors, a polygon representative of theshape and location of an object detected in an environment of theautonomous vehicle; determining, by the one or more processors, a frontpolyline for the polygon representative of the object based on a headingof the object and an expected location of the object at a future pointin time; converting, by the one or more processors, coordinates of thefront polyline to the half-plane coordinate system; determining, by theone or more processors, an entry location and an exit location betweenthe front polyline and a polygon representative of the object based on aplanned future location of the autonomous vehicle and using theconverted coordinates; and controlling, by the one or more processors,the autonomous vehicle in the autonomous driving mode to avoid acollision with the object based on the entry location and the exitlocation.

In one example, determining a rear polyline for the polygonrepresentative of the object based on a heading of the object and aplanned future location of the object at the future point in time;converting coordinates of the rear polyline to the half-plane coordinatesystem, determining a second entry location and a second exit locationbetween the rear polyline and the polygon representative of the objectbased on a planned future location of the autonomous vehicle at thefuture and the converted coordinates, and controlling the autonomousvehicle is further based on the second entry location and the secondexit location. In this example, the method also includes determining afirst distance by taking the minimum of an x-coordinate value of theentry location and the second entry location, and wherein controllingthe autonomous vehicle is further based on the first distance. Inaddition, the method also includes determining a second distance bytaking the maximum of an x-coordinate value of the exit location and thesecond exit location, and wherein controlling the autonomous vehicle isfurther based on the first distance. In addition, the method alsoincludes using the first distance and the second distance to determine aprobability of overlap with the object at the future point in time, andwherein controlling the autonomous vehicle is further based on the firstdistance. In addition, the method also includes receiving an uncertaintyvalue associated with the expected future location of the object, andwherein determining the probability of overlap is further based on theuncertainty value. In addition or alternatively, the method alsoincludes receiving a standard deviation for an uncertainty valueassociated with the expected future location of the object, and usingthe standard deviation to determine the probability of overlap as acumulative distribution function. In addition or alternatively, themethod also includes receiving a standard deviation for an uncertaintyvalue associated with the expected future location of the object, anddetermine the probability of overlap as a cumulative distributionfunction between the first distance divided by the standard deviationand the second distance divided by the standard deviation. In anotherexample, the method also includes determining the planned futurelocation of the autonomous vehicle at the future point in time from atrajectory generated by a planning system of the autonomous vehicle. Inanother example, the method also includes determining the expectedlocation of the object at the future point in time from a behaviormodeling system of the autonomous vehicle.

Another aspect of the disclosure provides a system for controlling avehicle having an autonomous driving mode. The system includes one ormore processors configured to receive a polygon representative of theshape and location of an object detected in an environment of theautonomous vehicle; access a polygon representative of the autonomousvehicle; determine a front polyline for the polygon representative ofthe object based on a heading of the object and an expected location ofthe object at a future point in time; convert coordinates of the frontpolyline to the half-plane coordinate system; determine an entrylocation and an exit location between the front polyline and the polygonrepresentative of the object based on a planned future location of theautonomous vehicle; and control the autonomous vehicle in the autonomousdriving mode to avoid a collision with the object based on the entrylocation and the exit location.

In one example, the one or more processors are further configured todetermine a rear polyline for the polygon representative of the objectbased on a heading of the object and a planned future location of theobject at the future point in time; convert coordinates of the rearpolyline to the half-plane coordinate system; determine a second entrylocation and a second exit location between the rear polyline and thepolygon representative of the object based on a planned future locationof the autonomous vehicle at the future, and to control the autonomousvehicle further based on the second entry location and the second exitlocation. In addition, wherein the one or more processors are furtherconfigured to determine a first distance by taking the minimum of anx-coordinate value of the entry location and the second entry location,and to control the autonomous vehicle further based on the firstdistance. In addition, the one or more processors are further configuredto determine a second distance by taking the maximum of an x-coordinatevalue of the exit location and the second exit location, and to controlthe autonomous vehicle further based on the first distance. In addition,the one or more processors are further configured to use the firstdistance and the second distance to determine a probability of overlapwith the object at the future point in time, and to control theautonomous vehicle further based on the first distance. In addition, theone or more processors are further configured to receive an uncertaintyvalue associated with the expected future location of the object, and todetermine the probability of overlap further based on the uncertaintyvalue. In addition or alternatively, the one or more processors arefurther configured to receive a standard deviation for an uncertaintyvalue associated with the expected future location of the object, anduse the standard deviation to determine the probability of overlap as acumulative distribution function. In addition or alternatively, the oneor more processors are further configured to receive a standarddeviation for an uncertainty value associated with the expected futurelocation of the object and determine the probability of overlap as acumulative distribution function between the first distance divided bythe standard deviation and the second distance divided by the standarddeviation. In another example, the one or more processors are furtherconfigured to determine the planned future location of the autonomousvehicle at the future point in time from a trajectory generated by aplanning system of the autonomous vehicle and determine the expectedlocation of the object at the future point in time from a behaviormodeling system of the autonomous vehicle. In another example, thesystem also includes the autonomous vehicle.

Another aspect of the disclosure provides a method of controlling avehicle having an autonomous driving mode. The method includesreceiving, by one or more processors, a polygon representative of theshape and location of a first object; receiving, by the one or moreprocessors, a polyline contour representation of a portion of a polygonrepresentative of the shape and location of a second object, thepolyline contour representation being in half-plane coordinates andincluding a plurality of vertices and line segments; converting, by theone or more processors, coordinates of the polygon representative of thefirst object to the half-plane coordinate system; determining, by theone or more processors, a collision location between the polylinecontour representation and the polygon representative of the firstobject using the converted coordinates; and controlling, by the one ormore processors, the autonomous vehicle in the autonomous driving modeto avoid a collision based on the collision location.

In one example, the first object is the autonomous vehicle, and thesecond object is an object in an environment of the autonomous vehicle.In another example, the second object is the autonomous vehicle, and thefirst object is an object in an environment of the autonomous vehicle.In another example, the collision location includes an entry locationfor the collision. In another example, the collision location includesan exit location for the collision.

Another aspect of the disclosure provides system for controlling avehicle having an autonomous driving mode. The system includes one ormore processors configured to receive a polygon representative of theshape and location of a first object; receive a polyline contourrepresentation of a portion of a polygon representative of the shape andlocation of a second object, the polyline contour representation beingin half-plane coordinates and including a plurality of vertices and linesegments; convert coordinates of the polygon representative of the firstobject to the half-plane coordinate system; determine a collisionlocation between the polyline contour representation and the polygonrepresentative of the first object using the converted coordinates; andcontrol the autonomous vehicle in the autonomous driving mode to avoid acollision based on the collision location.

In one example, the first object is the autonomous vehicle, and thesecond object is an object in an environment of the autonomous vehicle.In another example, the second object is the autonomous vehicle, and thefirst object is an object in an environment of the autonomous vehicle.In another example, the collision location includes an entry locationfor the collision. In another example, the collision location includesan exit location for the collision. In another example, the system alsoincludes the autonomous vehicle.

Another aspect of the disclosure provides a non-transitory recordingmedium on which instructions are stored, the instructions, when executedby one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform amethod of controlling a vehicle having an autonomous driving mode. Themethod includes receiving a polygon representative of the shape andlocation of a first object; receiving a polyline contour representationof a portion of a polygon representative of the shape and location of asecond object, the polyline contour representation being in half-planecoordinates and including a plurality of vertices and line segments;converting coordinates of the polygon representative of the first objectto the half-plane coordinate system; determining a collision locationbetween the polyline contour representation and the polygonrepresentative of the first object using the converted coordinates; andcontrol the autonomous vehicle in the autonomous driving mode to avoid acollision based on the collision location.

In one example, the first object is the autonomous vehicle, and thesecond object is an object in an environment of the autonomous vehicle.In another example, the second object is the autonomous vehicle, and thefirst object is an object in an environment of the autonomous vehicle.In another example, the collision location includes an entry locationfor the collision. In another example, the collision location includesan exit location for the collision.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a functional diagram of an example vehicle in accordance withan exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an example external view of a vehicle in accordance withaspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a polyline contour representation of a vehicle in accordancewith aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a polygon representation of a vehicle in accordance withaspects of the disclosure.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are example representations of conversion of a polylinecontour representation of a vehicle to half-plane coordinates for frontfending polyline contour representations and rear fending polylinecontour representations in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 6 is an example polygon representative of an object in worldcoordinates in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 7 is an example polygon representative of an object in half-planecoordinates in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 8 is an example representation of a vehicle and a polygonrepresentative of an object in half-plane coordinates in accordance withaspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 9 is an example representation of moving a left front fendingpolyline contour representation towards a polygon representative of anobject in half-plane coordinates in accordance with aspects of thedisclosure.

FIG. 10 is an example representation of a left front fending polylinecontour representation and a polygon representative of an object inhalf-plane coordinates in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 11 is an example representation of a left rear fending polylinecontour representation and a polygon representative of an object inhalf-plane coordinates in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 12 is an example representation of a right front fending polylinecontour representation and a polygon representative of an object inhalf-plane coordinates in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 13 is an example representation of a right rear fending polylinecontour representation and a polygon representative of an object inhalf-plane coordinates in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 14 is an example representation of moving a left front fendingpolyline contour representation towards a polygon representative of anobject in half-plane coordinates in accordance with aspects of thedisclosure.

FIG. 15 is an example representation of left front and rear fendingpolyline contour representations and a polygon representative of anobject at different points in time in accordance with aspects of thedisclosure.

FIGS. 16A and 16B are an example representations of polyline contourrepresentations and polygons representative of an object in accordancewith aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 17 is an example flow diagram in accordance with aspects of thedisclosure.

FIG. 18 is an example of lateral uncertainty for a polygonrepresentative of an object with respect to a polygon representative ofa vehicle and a planned trajectory for the autonomous vehicle inaccordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 19 is another example of lateral uncertainty for a polygonrepresentative of an object in accordance with aspects of thedisclosure.

FIG. 20 is an example polygon representative of an object in accordancewith aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 21 is an example front polyline representation of an object inaccordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 22 is an example rear polyline representation of an object inaccordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 23A is an example of a front polyline representation of an objectin half-plane coordinates in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 23B is an example of a rear polyline representation of an object inhalf-plane coordinates in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 24 is an example for determining collision locations, includingentry and exit locations, in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 25 is an example flow diagram in accordance with aspects of thedisclosure.

FIG. 26 is an example flow diagram in accordance with aspects of thedisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Overview

The technology relates to representations of objects for collisionanalysis. When estimating potential collisions with other objects, thegoal is typically to be conservative while doing so in order to promotesafety. An autonomous vehicle's contour is often modeled by a rectangle(when viewed from the top-down) or a three-dimensional rectangle, whichbounds all of the physical aspects of the autonomous vehicle includingall of the autonomous vehicle's sensors and mirrors. The swept volume ofthe autonomous vehicle can be determined by approximating the plannedpath or planned trajectory of the autonomous vehicle as series ofconnected boxes each representing the location of the autonomous vehicleat a different time that are connected to one another. However, thisapproach may introduce false positive collisions, especially at thecorners of the autonomous vehicle as the autonomous vehicle itself isnot a perfect rectangle. At the same time, if a more complex polygon isused, such a representation may be computationally expensive whenanalyzing potential collisions with other objects on or in theautonomous vehicle's planned trajectory.

Rather than using a rectangle or a polygon, a polyline contourrepresentation of the contours of the autonomous vehicle may bedetermined based on a vehicle's width profile. The polyline contourrepresentation can be defined for each side of the autonomous vehiclesplit by a center-line of the autonomous vehicle. Because most vehiclesare left-right symmetric along the center-line, the polyline contourrepresentation need only actually define one side of or half of theautonomous vehicle, for instance, the left or right side. In thisregard, if the other half of the autonomous vehicle is needed forcollision analysis, the polyline contour representation can simply beinverted.

An example polyline contour representation may be defined as a vehiclewidth profile drawn from the autonomous vehicle's front bumper to theautonomous vehicle's rear bumper. The polyline contour representationhas one, or at most two consecutive points that has the maximum y whichis the autonomous vehicle's maximum half width. The y coordinate on thepolyline contour representation monotonically increases to the pointwith maximum y, then monotonically decreases such that the polylinecontour representation has at most one peak. The number of pointsselected for the polyline contour representation may be increased ordecreased in order to increase or decrease accuracy of the collisionanalysis when using the polyline contour representation.

When the autonomous vehicle moves forward, objects can only collide withthe half before the peak, and when the autonomous vehicle drivesbackward, objects can only collide with the half after the peak. Assuch, when performing a collision analysis, only the portion of thepolyline contour representation before the peak is required when theautonomous vehicle is moving forward towards an object, and only theportion of the polyline contour representation after the peak isrequired when the autonomous vehicle is moving away from an object. Inother words, when determining when the vehicle would start to have acollision with an object and the autonomous vehicle is driving forward,points on the polyline contour representation that are after the peakcan be ignored, and when the autonomous vehicle is driving in reverse,points on the polyline contour representation that are before the peakcan be ignored.

The polyline contour representation may be converted to half-planecoordinates for each of the portions of the polyline contourrepresentation that are before the peak and after the peak. Forinstance, the autonomous vehicle may be placed at the right side of ahalf-plane. When reasoning the overlaps between the autonomous vehicleand an object, the front and rear bumpers or fending polyline contourrepresentations may be slid forward and backward along the half-plane.

As the autonomous vehicle drives around, its perception system maydetect and identify the shape and location of objects in the autonomousvehicle's environment. For instance, the perception system may providelocation information and a polygon representative of the shape andlocation of the object. The polygon representative of the object may bein any coordinate system, for instance, latitude and longitude or acoordinate system of the autonomous vehicle or a sensor of theperception system.

When performing the collision analysis, the polygon representative ofthe object may be converted to the half-plane coordinate system usingthe location information. This may be done, for example, by finding thepolygon's extreme points in half-plane's forward direction andperpendicular direction. Then a quarter of the polygon may be extractedand the polygon points of that quarter may be converted to half-planecoordinate.

Thereafter, a collision location for the representation of the objectmay be determined. A collision location may include an entry locationand an exit location The entry location may correspond to a particularline segment of the polyline contour representation which wouldinitially collide with the autonomous vehicle given the autonomousvehicle's current planned trajectory. In addition to determining theentry location the collision exit location may also be determined. Whilethe entry location may identify where the autonomous vehicle will have acollision with an object, the exit location may identify how theautonomous vehicle can get out of the collision. This may be useful whena vehicle's computing devices decide to overtake an object's path. Oncethe entry location and collision exit location are determined, theautonomous vehicle's computing devices can use this information todetermine how to better control the speed of the autonomous vehicle(e.g. drive faster or slower) in an autonomous driving mode in order toavoid the object.

As in the examples above, an object's contour is often modeled by atwo-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) polygon or a polygonrepresentative of the object, which bounds all of the points for anobject detected by an autonomous vehicle's perception system. Apredicted trajectory for the object may also be determined by thebehavior modeling system of the autonomous vehicle, for instance usingvarious behavior modeling techniques as well as sensor data from theperception system for the object, other objects, as well as theautonomous vehicle's environment generally. A 2D or 3D path or plannedtrajectory for the object may be determined by moving the polygonrepresentative of the object along the predicted trajectory. Modelingfor collisions is typically done by determining a 2D or 3D path for theautonomous vehicle using the autonomous vehicle's future trajectory anddetermining whether it will intersect with the 2D or 3D path for theobject.

However, due to uncertainty in the characteristics of the object fromthe perception system as well as the behavior modeling system, there maybe significant lateral uncertainty related to the object's travelingdirection. As such, the predicted trajectory for the object can befairly inaccurate, resulting in possibly inaccurate collisiondeterminations when comparing to the planned trajectory of theautonomous vehicle.

To address these shortcomings, the lateral uncertainty of an object maybe modeled as a normal distribution with mean and standard deviation(sd) from the uncertainty output by the behavior modeling system. Aprobability of overlap with the planned trajectory of the autonomousvehicle may be determined. For instance, distances between the objectand the planned trajectory of the autonomous vehicle may be determinedby calculating the entry and exit distances between the object and theplanned trajectory of the autonomous vehicle. The probability of overlapmay be determined using a cumulative distribution function employing theentry and exit distances and standard deviation.

To determine the entry and exit distances, or rather, the position ofthe polygon representative of the object when it will potentially enterand exit the planned trajectory of the autonomous vehicle, the polygonof the object may be decomposed into front and rear polylines. To do so,the left-most and right-most points relative to the object's trajectorymay be identified. This may be achieved using known techniques which mayor may not include converting the coordinate system of the object to onethat simplifies the identifications. From these left-most and right-mostpoints, the polygon may be divided into front and rear polylines whichmay actually represent front and rear width profiles for the object.Each of the front and rear polylines may then be converted to half-planecoordinates.

Collision locations, or rather, an entry location and an exit locationfor each of the front and rear polylines may be determined. Each entryor exit location may correspond to a particular line segment of front orrear polyline which would collide with the autonomous vehicle given theautonomous vehicle's current trajectory. While the entry location mayidentify where the autonomous vehicle will have a collision with anobject, the exit location may identify how the autonomous vehicle canget out of a collision with a trajectory of the object. An entry and/orexit location may correspond to a point on or a particular line segmentof the polyline which would collide with the autonomous vehicle giventhe autonomous vehicle's current or a future trajectory. The entry andexit distances may then be determined from the entry and exit locationsfor the front and rear half planes. These values may then be used todetermine the probability of overlap (e.g. a collision) at some locationalong the planned trajectory of the autonomous vehicle.

The aforementioned approach may also be useful in cases where thepolygon for the autonomous vehicle overlaps with part of the object'slateral region. This may be useful when a vehicle's computing devicesdecide to avoid or even overtake an object. Once the probability ofoverlap is determined, the autonomous vehicle's computing devices canuse this information to determine how to better control the speed of theautonomous vehicle in an autonomous driving mode in order to avoid theobject. In some instances, the autonomous vehicle may even generate anew trajectory. The features described herein may provide an efficient,yet realistic representation of object for collision analysis. Forinstance, the features described herein may allow for an efficient andaccurate method to compute the overlapping probability between an objectand an autonomous vehicle's trajectory. In addition, in the case of apolyline representation of the autonomous vehicle, because therepresentation of the autonomous vehicle is not generalized to a coarse,two-dimensional rectangle that is larger than the actual dimensions ofthe autonomous vehicle, this can significantly reduce the swept volumeof the autonomous vehicle, which in turn, may allow the autonomousvehicle to pass through more narrow passages and closer to otherobjects. As noted above, the goal of collision detection is ultimatelyto be conservative and detect any possible collision. However, using apolyline representation may allow for the calculation of largerdistances between the autonomous vehicle and other objects, withoutcompromising the nature of the conservative estimate.

In addition, because the polyline contour representation need onlycorrespond to half of a vehicle and only a portion of that (before orafter the peak) is needed when performing the collision analysis, thistoo can significantly reduce memory and processing resources. Asdescribed herein, the polyline contour representation also allows for adetermination of which portion of the autonomous vehicle will beinvolved in a collision (e.g., collides with mirror or bumper) ratherthan simply a point on a rectangle which may or may not actuallycorrespond to a physical point on the autonomous vehicle. Further,because the monotonicity of the y coordinate of the polyline contourrepresentation, once it is known how deep an object overlaps with theautonomous vehicle's trajectory, which line segment to use for thecollision analysis can be determined quickly.

In addition to vehicles and real-time decision making, the featuresdescribed herein may also be useful for objects other than vehiclesincluding virtual representations of objects, such as simulationsincluding testing circumstances as well as video games. For instance,the features described herein may be used to determine collisionlocations, including entry locations and exit locations, for thosevirtual objects making the simulations themselves more efficient.

When used in conjunction with actual vehicles, because the polylinecontour representation is more nuanced that a rectangular polygonrepresentative of a vehicle or an object in the vehicle's environment,the features described herein may effectively increase the calculateddistances between the autonomous vehicle and other objects which canalso reduce the likelihood of false positive collisions with otherobjects, reduce the likelihood of a vehicle becoming stranded (unable toproceed) because it is falsely blocked by another object, and reduceocclusions caused by other objects as the autonomous vehicle may be ableto get closer to or nudge around the object. All of these benefits, inturn, can enable the autonomous vehicle to better maneuver aroundobjects, in some cases, drive faster, and also reduce the need forevasive (or otherwise uncomfortable) maneuvers which can improve overalldriving comfort for passengers.

Example Systems

As shown in FIG. 1, a vehicle 100 in accordance with one aspect of thedisclosure includes various components. While certain aspects of thedisclosure are particularly useful in connection with specific types ofvehicles, the autonomous vehicle may be any type of vehicle including,but not limited to, cars, trucks, motorcycles, buses, recreationalvehicles, etc. The autonomous vehicle may have one or more computingdevices, such as computing device 110 containing one or more processors120, memory 130 and other components typically present in generalpurpose computing devices.

The memory 130 stores information accessible by the one or moreprocessors 120, including instructions 132 and data 134 that may beexecuted or otherwise used by the processor 120. The memory 130 may beof any type capable of storing information accessible by the processor,including a computing device-readable medium, or other medium thatstores data that may be read with the aid of an electronic device, suchas a hard-drive, memory card, ROM, RAM, DVD or other optical disks, aswell as other write-capable and read-only memories. Systems and methodsmay include different combinations of the foregoing, whereby differentportions of the instructions and data are stored on different types ofmedia.

The instructions 132 may be any set of instructions to be executeddirectly (such as machine code) or indirectly (such as scripts) by theprocessor. For example, the instructions may be stored as computingdevice code on the computing device-readable medium. In that regard, theterms “instructions” and “programs” may be used interchangeably herein.The instructions may be stored in object code format for directprocessing by the processor, or in any other computing device languageincluding scripts or collections of independent source code modules thatare interpreted on demand or compiled in advance. Functions, methods androutines of the instructions are explained in more detail below.

The data 134 may be retrieved, stored or modified by processor 120 inaccordance with the instructions 132. For instance, although the claimedsubject matter is not limited by any particular data structure, the datamay be stored in computing device registers, in a relational database asa table having a plurality of different fields and records, XMLdocuments or flat files. The data may also be formatted in any computingdevice-readable format.

The one or more processor 120 may be any conventional processors, suchas commercially available CPUs or GPUs. Alternatively, the one or moreprocessors may be a dedicated device such as an ASIC or otherhardware-based processor. Although FIG. 1 functionally illustrates theprocessor, memory, and other elements of computing device 110 as beingwithin the same block, it will be understood by those of ordinary skillin the art that the processor, computing device, or memory may actuallyinclude multiple processors, computing devices, or memories that may ormay not be stored within the same physical housing. For example, memorymay be a hard drive or other storage media located in a housingdifferent from that of computing device 110. Accordingly, references toa processor or computing device will be understood to include referencesto a collection of processors or computing devices or memories that mayor may not operate in parallel.

In one aspect the computing devices 110 may be part of an autonomouscontrol system capable of communicating with various components of theautonomous vehicle in order to control the autonomous vehicle in anautonomous driving mode. For example, returning to FIG. 1, the computingdevices 110 may be in communication with various systems of vehicle 100,such as deceleration system 160, acceleration system 162, steeringsystem 164, routing system 166, planning system 168, positioning system170, perception system 172, behavior modeling system 174, and powersystem 176 in order to control the movement, speed, etc. of vehicle 100in accordance with the instructions 132 of memory 130 in the autonomousdriving mode.

As an example, computing devices 110 may interact with decelerationsystem 160 and acceleration system 162 in order to control the speed ofthe autonomous vehicle. Similarly, steering system 164 may be used bycomputing devices 110 in order to control the direction of vehicle 100.For example, if vehicle 100 is configured for use on a road, such as acar or truck, the steering system may include components to control theangle of wheels to turn the autonomous vehicle.

Planning system 168 may be used by computing devices 110 in order todetermine and follow a route generated by a routing system 166 to alocation. For instance, the routing system 166 may use map informationto determine a route from a current location of the autonomous vehicleto a drop off location. The planning system 168 may periodicallygenerate trajectories, or short-term plans for controlling theautonomous vehicle for some period of time into the future, in order tofollow the route (a current route of the autonomous vehicle) to thedestination. In this regard, the planning system 168, routing system166, and/or data 134 may store detailed map information, e.g., highlydetailed maps identifying the shape and elevation of roadways, lanelines, intersections, crosswalks, speed limits, traffic signals,buildings, signs, real time traffic information, vegetation, or othersuch objects and information.

The map information may include one or more roadgraphs or graph networksof information such as roads, lanes, intersections, and the connectionsbetween these features which may be represented by road segments. Eachfeature may be stored as graph data and may be associated withinformation such as a geographic location and whether or not it islinked to other related features, for example, a stop sign may be linkedto a road and an intersection, etc. In some examples, the associateddata may include grid-based indices of a roadgraph to allow forefficient lookup of certain roadgraph features.

Positioning system 170 may be used by computing devices 110 in order todetermine the autonomous vehicle's relative or absolute position on amap or on the earth. For example, the positioning system 170 may includea GPS receiver to determine the device's latitude, longitude and/oraltitude position. Other location systems such as laser-basedlocalization systems, inertial-aided GPS, or camera-based localizationmay also be used to identify the location of the autonomous vehicle. Thelocation of the autonomous vehicle may include an absolute geographicallocation, such as latitude, longitude, and altitude as well as relativelocation information, such as location relative to other carsimmediately around it which can often be determined with less noise thatabsolute geographical location.

The positioning system 170 may also include other devices incommunication with the computing devices of the computing devices 110,such as an accelerometer, gyroscope or another direction/speed detectiondevice to determine the direction and speed of the autonomous vehicle orchanges thereto. By way of example only, an acceleration device maydetermine its pitch, yaw or roll (or changes thereto) relative to thedirection of gravity or a plane perpendicular thereto. The device mayalso track increases or decreases in speed and the direction of suchchanges. The device's provision of location and orientation data as setforth herein may be provided automatically to the computing device 110,other computing devices and combinations of the foregoing.

The perception system 172 also includes one or more components fordetecting objects external to the autonomous vehicle such as othervehicles, obstacles in the roadway, traffic signals, signs, trees, etc.For example, the perception system 172 may include lasers, sonar, radar,cameras and/or any other detection devices that record data which may beprocessed by the computing devices of the computing devices 110. In thecase where the autonomous vehicle is a passenger vehicle such as aminivan, the minivan may include a laser or other sensors mounted on theroof or other convenient location. For instance, FIG. 2 is an exampleexternal view of vehicle 100. In this example, roof-top housing 210 anddome housing 212 may include a LIDAR sensor as well as various camerasand radar units. In addition, housing 220 located at the front end ofvehicle 100 and housings 230, 232 on the driver's and passenger's sidesof the autonomous vehicle may each store a LIDAR sensor. For example,housing 230 is located in front of driver door 260. Vehicle 100 alsoincludes housings 240, 242 for radar units and/or cameras also locatedon the roof of vehicle 100. Additional radar units and cameras (notshown) may be located at the front and rear ends of vehicle 100 and/oron other positions along the roof or roof-top housing 210.

The computing devices 110 may be capable of communicating with variouscomponents of the autonomous vehicle in order to control the movement ofvehicle 100 according to primary vehicle control code of memory of thecomputing devices 110. For example, returning to FIG. 1, the computingdevices 110 may include various computing devices in communication withvarious systems of vehicle 100, such as deceleration system 160,acceleration system 162, steering system 164, routing system 166,planning system 168, positioning system 170, perception system 172, andpower system 176 (i.e. the autonomous vehicle's engine or motor) inorder to control the movement, speed, etc. of vehicle 100 in accordancewith the instructions 132 of memory 130.

The various systems of the autonomous vehicle may function usingautonomous vehicle control software in order to determine how to and tocontrol the autonomous vehicle. As an example, a perception systemsoftware module of the perception system 172 may use sensor datagenerated by one or more sensors of an autonomous vehicle, such ascameras, LIDAR sensors, radar units, sonar units, etc., to detect andidentify objects and their characteristics. These characteristics mayinclude location, type, heading, orientation, speed, acceleration,change in acceleration, size, shape, etc. For instance, the perceptionsystem 172 may provide a polygon, such as a 2D or 3D bounding box,representative of the object's shape and dimensions. The perceptionsystem 172 may also provide an uncertainty for each of the object'scharacteristics including location, type, heading, orientation, speed,acceleration, change in acceleration, size, shape, etc.

In some instances, characteristics as well as the uncertainties may beinput into a behavior modeling system 174. For instance, a polygonrepresentative of an object as well as the uncertainty for the object'scharacteristics may be input into the behavior modeling system 174. Thebehavior modeling system 174 may include software modules which usevarious behavior models based on object type to output a predictedfuture behavior for a detected object given a polygon representative ofan object as well as the uncertainty for the object's characteristics.The predicted future behavior of an object may include a predictedtrajectory representing a plurality of future locations andcharacteristics of the object. Due to the uncertainties for thecharacteristics and uncertainties inherent in behavior predictions, thebehavior prediction model may provide an uncertainty for the trajectorywhich increases over time. In other words, the uncertainty relating tothe object's predicted location and traveling direction may increaseover time.

In other instances, the characteristics may be put into one or moredetection system software modules, such as a traffic light detectionsystem software module configured to detect the states of known trafficsignals, construction zone detection system software module configuredto detect construction zones from sensor data generated by the one ormore sensors of the autonomous vehicle as well as an emergency vehicledetection system configured to detect emergency vehicles from sensordata generated by sensors of the autonomous vehicle. Each of thesedetection system software modules may uses various models to output alikelihood of a construction zone or an object being an emergencyvehicle.

Detected objects, predicted future behaviors, various likelihoods fromdetection system software modules, the map information identifying theautonomous vehicle's environment, position information from thepositioning system 170 identifying the location and orientation of theautonomous vehicle, a destination for the autonomous vehicle as well asfeedback from various other systems of the autonomous vehicle may beinput into a planning system software module of the planning system 168.The planning system may use this input to generate trajectories for theautonomous vehicle to follow for some brief period of time into thefuture based on a current route of the autonomous vehicle generated by arouting module of the routing system 166. A control system softwaremodule of the computing devices 110 may be configured to controlmovement of the autonomous vehicle, for instance by controlling braking,acceleration and steering of the autonomous vehicle, in order to followa trajectory.

The computing devices 110 may control the autonomous vehicle in anautonomous driving mode by controlling various components. For instance,by way of example, the computing devices 110 may navigate the autonomousvehicle to a destination location completely autonomously using datafrom the detailed map information and planning system 168. The computingdevices 110 may use the positioning system 170 to determine theautonomous vehicle's location and perception system 172 to detect andrespond to objects when needed to reach the location safely. Again, inorder to do so, computing device 110 may generate trajectories and causethe autonomous vehicle to follow these trajectories, for instance, bycausing the autonomous vehicle to accelerate (e.g., by supplying fuel orother energy to the engine or power system 176 by acceleration system162), decelerate (e.g., by decreasing the fuel supplied to the engine orpower system 176, changing gears, and/or by applying brakes bydeceleration system 160), change direction (e.g., by turning the frontor rear wheels of vehicle 100 by steering system 164), and signal suchchanges (e.g., by lighting turn signals of the autonomous vehicle).Thus, the acceleration system 162 and deceleration system 160 may be apart of a drivetrain that includes various components between an engineof the autonomous vehicle and the wheels of the autonomous vehicle.Again, by controlling these systems, computing devices 110 may alsocontrol the drivetrain of the autonomous vehicle in order to maneuverthe autonomous vehicle autonomously.

Example Methods

In addition to the operations described above and illustrated in thefigures, various operations will now be described. It should beunderstood that the following operations do not have to be performed inthe precise order described below. Rather, various steps can be handledin a different order or simultaneously, and steps may also be added oromitted.

As noted above, typically, an autonomous vehicle's contour is oftenmodeled by a rectangle (when viewed from the top-down) or athree-dimensional rectangle, which bounds all of the physical aspects ofthe autonomous vehicle including all of the autonomous vehicle's sensorsand mirrors. The swept volume of the autonomous vehicle can bedetermined by approximating the path or trajectory as series ofconnected boxes each representing the location of the autonomous vehicleat a different time that are connected to one another. However, thisapproach may introduce false positive collisions, especially at thecorners of the autonomous vehicle as the autonomous vehicle itself isnot a perfect rectangle. At the same time, if a more complex polygon isused, such a representation may be computationally expensive whenanalyzing potential collisions with other objects on or in theautonomous vehicle's trajectory.

Rather than using a rectangle or a polygon, a polyline contourrepresentation of the contours of a vehicle (or a polyline contourrepresentation) may be determined based on a vehicle's width profile orwidth dimensions. The polyline contour representation can be defined foreach side (left/right, driver/passenger, etc.) of the autonomous vehiclesplit by a center-line of the autonomous vehicle. Because most vehiclesare left-right symmetric along the center-line, the polyline contourrepresentation need only actually define one side of or half of theautonomous vehicle, for instance, the left or right side. In thisregard, if the other half of the autonomous vehicle is needed forcollision analysis, the polyline contour representation can simply beinverted. FIG. 3 is an example polyline contour representation 300overlaid on an outline 310 of the autonomous vehicle 100. Moving thispolyline contour representation or a polygon (e.g. a rectangle)representative of the autonomous vehicle along a trajectory generated bythe planning system 168 may identify a swept volume for the autonomousvehicle 100 and may be used to identify which objects in the autonomousvehicle's environment are likely to intersect with this swept volume.The computing devices may then use the polyline contour representationto identify potential collision locations.

To simplify the calculations required for the collision analysis, theorigin (0,0) location on the autonomous vehicle may be positioned atvarious locations for different purposes. For instance, when determiningthe autonomous vehicle width profile's coordinates use the autonomousvehicle's rear axle or some other location may be used as the origin andthe autonomous vehicle's heading as the X axis. The Y axis may point tovehicle's left (e.g. driver's) side. For example, the origin 320 islocated at the autonomous vehicle's rear axle at a point of symmetry ona centerline 350 along the length of the autonomous vehicle. When usingthe polyline contour representation for collision analysis, the originmay be positioned as needed to simplify the calculations as discussedfurther below.

An example polyline contour representation may be defined as a vehiclewidth profile drawn from the autonomous vehicle's front bumper to theautonomous vehicle's rear bumper. The polyline contour representation300 has one, or at most two consecutive points that has the maximum ycoordinate which is the autonomous vehicle's maximum half width or halfof the maximum. In other words, the polyline contour representation maybe generated using the minimum number of necessary points with themaximum y coordinate (i.e. two or less). In the typical case, themaximum y coordinate may correspond to half of the width of theautonomous vehicle measured at or the distance between the autonomousvehicle's mirrors 322, 324 (or lateral sensors) or rather, half of thegreatest width dimension of the autonomous vehicle along the centerline350 of the autonomous vehicle. The y coordinates on the polyline contourrepresentation monotonically increases to the point with maximum ycoordinate, then monotonically decreases such that the polyline contourrepresentation has at most one peak (again, corresponding to the widthof the autonomous vehicle's mirrors or lateral sensors). As depicted inFIG. 3, polyline has 8 points, each represented by a circle. Althoughthe front or forward-most point and the rear-most point on the polylineare depicted with a y coordinate of 0 (i.e. they are located on thex-axis), the y coordinate of the front-most point and rear-most pointcould be larger than 0. The number of points selected for the polylinecontour representation may be increased or decreased in order toincrease or decrease accuracy of the collision analysis when using thepolyline contour representation. For instance, in this example, thegreatest distance between the outline 310 of the autonomous vehicle andthe closes portion of the polyline contour representation 300, or thedistance R1, is no more than 15 cm. Of course, the greater the number ofpoints used, the greater the amount of processing power and resourcesrequired when performing the collision analysis.

In some instances, if the autonomous vehicle has a rectangular widthprofile, the polyline representation of the autonomous vehicle can havetwo consecutive points that have a maximum y coordinate. For example, ifthe autonomous vehicle is actually shaped like a rectangle, like atruck's trailer, the polyline contour representation may include pointsrepresenting the two corners of the rectangle in the polylinerepresentation. In other words, the polyline contour representation canbe generalized to a rectangle.

FIG. 4 is an example polygon 400 representative of vehicle 100 overlaidon the outline 310 of vehicle 100. In this example, the polygon 400 is arectangle. The greatest distance between the outline 310 of theautonomous vehicle and the closest portion of the polygon 400representative of the autonomous vehicle, or the distance R2, is as muchas 43 cm at the front of the autonomous vehicle 100. The distance R3 atthe rear of the autonomous vehicle may be as much as 36.8 cm. Themaximum swept volume radius is of the polygon 400 representative of theautonomous vehicle is 6.961 m, as compared to that of the polylinecontour representation is only 6.534 m. Thus, between the polylinecontour representation 300 and the polygon 400 representative of theautonomous vehicle, there is a total swept volume lateral reduction of42.7 cm. This difference may provide a rather large distinction betweenthe swept volume of the polygon 400 representative of the object ascompared to the polyline contour representation. Therefore, use of thepolyline contour representation with respect to driving around objectand collision avoidance may be significantly more accurate than arectangular polygon representative of the autonomous vehicle.

Referring to the polyline contour representation, when the autonomousvehicle moves forward, objects can only collide with the half before thepeak, and when the autonomous vehicle drives backward, objects can onlycollide with the half after the peak. As such, when performing acollision analysis, only the portion of the polyline contourrepresentation before the peak is required when the autonomous vehicleis moving forward towards an object, and only the portion of thepolyline contour representation after the peak is required when theautonomous vehicle is moving away from an object. In other words, whendetermining when the autonomous vehicle would collide with an objectwhen the autonomous vehicle is driving forward, points on the polylinecontour representation that are after the peak can be ignored, and whenthe autonomous vehicle is driving in reverse, points on the polylinecontour representation that are before the polyline contourrepresentation can be ignored.

In this regard, the polyline contour representation may be converted tohalf-plane coordinates for each of the portions of the polyline contourrepresentation that are on the left side of the autonomous vehicle andin front of (i.e. closer to the front bumper of the autonomous vehicle)the peak or maximum y coordinate (hereinafter, the front fendingpolyline contour representation 510) or on the left side of theautonomous vehicle and behind or after (i.e. closer to the rear bumperof the autonomous vehicle) the peak or maximum y coordinate(hereinafter, the rear fending polyline contour representation 520). Thehalf-plane is essentially “half” of a plane or a planar regionconsisting of all points on one side of an infinite straight line andnone on the other. This line may correspond to, for instance, an axis ofa coordinate system. FIG. 5A represents this conversion for left frontand rear left fending polyline contour references. For instance, theautonomous vehicle 100 may be placed at the right side of a half-plane530 which corresponds to the x coordinate of the maximum y coordinate ofthe polyline contour representation 300. After conversion, the ycoordinate is width, which become negative in half-plane coordinate asthe right side of half-plane is always negative by convention. In thisregard, the height of the peak becomes y=0. When reasoning the overlapsbetween the autonomous vehicle 100 and an object, the left front andrear fending polyline contour representations 510, 520 may be “moved”forward and backward along the half-plane. Therefore, the x coordinatesof the autonomous vehicle bumper polyline contour representations may berelative numbers. For the convenience of computing, in the right frontfending polyline contour representation 510, the furthest or rightmostpoint on the autonomous vehicle's front bumper may be assigned to x=0.0,and in the rear fending polyline contour representation 520, thefurthest or the leftmost point on the rear bumper may be assigned tox=0.0. All of the rest of the x coordinates on the half-plane for theleft front fending polyline contour representation 510 are negativenumbers relative to the rightmost point. All of the rest of the xcoordinates on the half-plane for the left rear fending polyline contourrepresentation 520 are positive numbers relative to the leftmost point.

Similarly, an inverted version of the polyline contour representationmay be determined in half-plane coordinates for each of the portions ofthe polyline contour representation that are both on the right side ofthe autonomous vehicle or before a minimum y coordinate (hereinafter,the right front fending polyline contour representation 510) as well asafter the minimum (hereinafter, the right rear fending polyline contourrepresentation 520). FIG. 5B represents this conversion for right frontand rear left fending polyline contour references. For instance, theautonomous vehicle 100 may be placed at the right side of a half-plane532 which corresponds to the X-coordinate of the minimum coordinate ofthe polyline contour representation 300. After conversion, the ycoordinate is width, which become positive in half-plane coordinate asthe right side of half-plane is always negative by convention. In thisregard, the height of the minimum becomes y=0. When reasoning theoverlaps between the autonomous vehicle 100 and an object, the leftfront and rear fending polyline contour representations 550, 540 may be“moved” forward and backward along the half-plane. Therefore, the xcoordinates of the autonomous vehicle bumper polyline contourrepresentations may be relative numbers. For the convenience ofcomputing, in the right front fending polyline contour representation510, the furthest or rightmost point on the autonomous vehicle's frontbumper may be assigned to x=0.0, and in the right rear fending polylinecontour representation 540, the furthest or the leftmost point on therear bumper may be assigned to x=0.0. All of the rest of the xcoordinates on the half-plane for the right front fending polylinecontour representation 510 are negative numbers relative to therightmost point. All of the rest of the x coordinates on the half-planefor the right rear fending polyline contour representation 520 arepositive numbers relative to the leftmost point.

FIG. 17 is an example flow diagram 1700 in accordance with aspects ofthe disclosure which may be performed by one or more processors of oneor more computing devices, such as processors 120 of computing devices110, in order to maneuver a vehicle having an autonomous driving mode.For instance, at block 1710, a polygon representative of the shape andlocation of an object detected in an environment of the autonomousvehicle is received. For example, as the autonomous vehicle 100 drivesaround, the perception system 172 may detect and identify the shape andlocation of objects in the autonomous vehicle's environment. Forinstance, the perception system may provide location information as wellas a polygon representative of the shape and location of each detectedobject. The polygon representative of the object may be in anycoordinate system, for instance, latitude and longitude or a coordinatesystem of the autonomous vehicle 100 or a sensor of the perceptionsystem 172.

At block 1720, a polyline contour representation of the autonomousvehicle representing no more than half of a contour of the autonomousvehicle in a half-plane coordinate system is accessed. The polylinecontour representation may be accessed, retrieved, received or otherwiseidentified. For instance, the fending polyline contour representations510, 520, 540, 550 may be pre-stored in the memory 130, for example,after having been received from a remote computing device over a networkand/or directly downloaded to the computing devices 110. In this regard,the polyline contour representations can be accessed or retrieved fromthe memory as needed. As discussed above, the polyline contourrepresentation, or each of the fending polyline contour representations510, 520, 540, 550, includes a plurality of vertices and line segments.

At block 1730, coordinates of the polygon representative of the objectare converted to the half-plane coordinate system. For instance, whenperforming the collision analysis, the polygon representative of theobject may be converted to the half-plane coordinate system using thelocation information. This may be done, for example, by finding thepolygon's extreme points in half-plane's forward direction andperpendicular direction. For instance, FIG. 6 provides a view of apolygon 600 representative of an object detected by the sensors of theperception system 172. In this example, the half-plane 530 is depictedwith respect to a real-world coordinate system (e.g. latitude andlongitude). The normal and tangent directions (represented by arrow)with respect to the half-plane 530 are also depicted. The extreme points610, 620 represent the most anti-tangent point and the most anti-normalpoint of the polygon 600 with respect to the half-plane 530.

Then, all or a portion of the polygon 600, may be determined orextracted from the polygon representative of the object. For example,for a convex polygon, the extreme points of the polygon at a givendirection can be determined using O(log(n)) time complexity, where n isthe number of vertices of the polygon. In the example, the points 610,620, 630 and 640 need to be converted when checking for collisions whenthe autonomous vehicle drives along the half-plane direction (i.e.following its trajectory) as these y coordinates of these points withrespect to the half-plane are less than or equal to the maximumy-coordinate value of the polyline. In other words, it would not bepossible for points between 640 and 610 (in the counterclockwisedirection) in FIG. 6 to have a collision with the autonomous vehicle (orrather, the polyline 600) earlier than point 610 (which is the rear-mostpoint in the half-plane direction). This would also be true when the allof the y coordinates of the polygon (when in half-plane coordinates) areless than the maximum y-coordinate. The polygon points of that portionmay be converted to half-plane coordinates. For example, as shown inFIGS. 7 and 8 (FIG. 8 depicting the relative location of the autonomousvehicle 100), the polygon 600 has been converted to half-planecoordinates. In this example, point 610 represents an extreme Xcoordinate, and point 620 represents an extreme (very low) y coordinate.Any coordinate conversion algorithm such as those that involve rotatingand translating the points may be used.

Returning to FIG. 17, at block 1740, a collision location between thepolyline contour representation and the polygon representative of theobject using the converted coordinates. This may involve mathematically“sliding” or “moving” the polyline contour representation in 1 dimension(along the half-plane direction) in order to define a swept volume forthe autonomous vehicle and determine where the polyline contourrepresentation would intersect with the representation of the object. Inpractice, this may involve subtracting the position or x coordinatesbetween two points (one on the polyline contour representation and oneon the polygon) in order to determine how far the polyline contourrepresentation (and/or the representation of the object) has to move (orslide along the half-plane) to have collision. The collision locationmay include an entry location which corresponds to a point on or aparticular line segment of the polyline contour representation of theobject which would collide with the autonomous vehicle given theautonomous vehicle's current or a future trajectory (for instance,generated by the planning system 168).

For instance, turning to FIG. 9, the polyline contour representation maybe slid or moved (forward or backwards) along the planned trajectory ofthe autonomous vehicle towards the object (or rather, the x-coordinatesmay be subtracted from one another). In the example of FIG. 9, the frontfending polyline contour representation 510 is used and is moved in thedirection of the autonomous vehicle 100's planned trajectory. If theautonomous vehicle were moving in reverse, the rear fending polylinecontour representation would be used to determine the entry location.The entry location for each segment (such as a pair of vertices and theline segment between them) of the polygon representative of the objectmay be determined. Here the line segment 910 between points 620 and 630may be identified as the entry location.

For instance, for each line segment, the deepest penetration point ofthat line segment into the half-plane coordinate system (D) may bedetermined. Turning to FIG. 10, and referring only to the line segment910 for simplicity, this distance D between the deepest portion of theline segment 910 and the front fending polyline contour representation510 may be determined. Similarly, turning to FIG. 11, and referring onlyto the line segment 910 for simplicity, this distance D between thedeepest portion of the line segment 910 and the front fending polylinecontour representation 510 may be determined. This process may berepeated for other line segments of the portion of the representation ofthe object.

If the depth of the extreme point of the polygon in the half-plane'santi-tangent direction goes below the lowest y-coordinate of the frontfending polyline contour representation 510, the right front fendingpolyline contour representation may be used. For example, FIG. 12represents the distance from the deepest penetration point of a linesegment 1210 of a polygon 1200 representative of an object. In thisexample, an inverted version 1220 of the right front fending polylinecontour representation 550 is used.

Similarly, if the depth of the extreme point of the polygon in thehalf-plane's tangent direction goes below the lowest y-coordinate of therear fending polyline contour representation 520, the left rear fendingpolyline contour representation (or rather, a right side) may be used.FIG. 13 represents the distance from the deepest penetration point of aline segment 1320 (that is within the right rear halfplane coordinatesystem) of a polygon 1200 representative of an object. In this example,the right rear fending polyline contour representation 540 is used.

The polyline contour representation line segment on each of the frontfending and rear fending polyline contour representations (or invertedpolyline contour representations) that has the same penetration depth asD may be identified. In each of the examples of FIGS. 10, 11, 12, and 13the dashed-line arrows point to the respective line segments 1040, 1140,1240, 1340 of the corresponding polyline contour representations.Finding the distances D may enable the computing devices to determinewhich part of the polygon is relevant to determining the entry location.For each vertex point on the line segment, that vertex point may beprojected onto the autonomous vehicle polyline contour representation atthe same depth in order to determine the entry location. For example,returning to the example of line segment 910 of FIG. 9, the points 620and 630 may be projected onto the autonomous vehicle polyline contourrepresentation at the corresponding depths in order to determine theentry location. Alternatively, for each vertex point on vehicle polylinecontour representation, that vertex point may be projected onto to thecorresponding polygon segments and to determine the entry location.These projections can be done easily in half-plane coordinate as thedepth may be just the respective vertex point's y coordinate, or rather,the y coordinates of points 620 and 630. After the projection, theright-most position (that the polyline contour representation can slideto collide with the polygon) or rather the entry location may beidentified. For example, this process may start by analyzing thepolyline and the polygon's vertices from the lowest depth (lowest ycoordinate) towards the highest depth (highest y coordinates) to checkfor collisions, for instance, by subtracting x coordinates of pointshaving the same y coordinates. As such, the computing devices 110 needonly check the polyline and polygon segments that have overlappingranges of y coordinates.

In addition to determining the entry location for the collisionlocation, the exit location for the collision location may also bedetermined in a similar manner. This may be done using the rear fendingpolyline contour representation when the autonomous vehicle is movingforward and the front fending polyline contour representation when theautonomous vehicle is moving in reverse. This may involve identifyingthe most extreme points of the polygon in the tangent direction of theleft side halfplane coordinate system, or in the anti-tangent directionof the right side halfplane coordinate system. (depending upon whetherthe vehicle is moving forward or backwards) and determining when thepolyline would move beyond this extreme most point in order to determinethe exit location.

For instance, turning to FIG. 14 (and using the same example from FIG.9), the portion of the polygon 600 representative of the object isplaced at the same position relative to depth of the half-planecoordinates, but behind the autonomous vehicle 100, rather than in frontof the autonomous vehicle. In this regard, rather than “sliding” or“moving” the rear fending polyline contour representation in thedirection of the trajectory of the autonomous vehicle 100, the rearfending polyline contour representation is moved towards the polygon 600representation of the object (or the relevant portion and/or linesegment) in order to determine the exit location given the extreme mostpoint (here point 640) for the polygon 600 in the tangent direction ofthe left side halfplane coordinate system, for instance for the linesegment 1410 between points 620 and 640 as described above. In practice,this may also involve subtracting the position or x coordinates betweentwo points (one on the polyline contour representation and one on thepolygon) in order to determine how far the rear fending polyline contourrepresentation (and/or the representation of the object) has to move (orslide along the half-plane) to have collision. As with the exampleabove, depending upon the distance D of the rear-most point or frontmost-point, the inverted version (or right side) of the rear fendingpolyline contour representation may be used.

In the case of more complex polygons representative of more complexobjects, such as concave polygons where there may be multiple collisionlocations (i.e. multiple entry and exit location pairs), in order todetermine the actual entry location and exit locations, both thepolyline contour representations for the left and right side of theautonomous vehicle or both half-planes may be used. In other words, a“corridor” bounded by the left front fending polyline representationhalf-plane and the corresponding y coordinate for the right frontfending polyline representation's half-plane may be used. FIGS. 16A and16B represent vehicle 100 approaching an object represented by concavepolygons 1620 and 1640, respectively. The computing devices 110 may thenidentify all of the intersection points between the convex polygon andthe boundaries of the corridor. For instance, in FIG. 16A, points1601-1606 are identified, and in FIG. 16B, points 1631-1638 areidentified. The computing devices may then analyze the intersectionpoints to determine any independent overlaps. If there are twoneighboring or adjacent intersection points where the edges of theobject polygon would enter and then exit the corridor (e.g. representinga potential collision location and a potential exit location) directlyadjacent to one another on the same side of the corridor, these pointsmay be ignored. For instance, in FIG. 16A, intersection points 1603 and1604 would be ignored, and in FIG. 16B none of the intersection pointswould be ignored.

Of the remaining points, the computing devices may identify the entrylocations as well as the exit locations in order to determine acollision location and an exit location for an overlap with the object.For the entry points where the autonomous vehicle would enter thepolygon, the computing devices may identify the entry point with thesmallest x coordinate value. For the exit locations where the autonomousvehicle would exit the polygon, the computing devices may identify theexit location with the largest x coordinate value.

In the example of FIG. 16A, the entry location 1614 is on the linesegment between intersection points 1601 and 1602, and the entrylocation's x coordinate is where the left or right front fendingpolyline (here left) has the smallest distance in the x direction fromthe line segments between points 1601 and 1602. Similarly, the exitlocation 1612 is on the line segment between intersection points 1605and 1606, and the exit location's x coordinate is where the left orright rear fending polyline (here right) has the largest distance in thex direction with the line segments between 1605 and 1606.

In the example of FIG. 16B, there are two overlaps with the polygon1640. The entry location 1642 for the first overlap is on the linesegment between intersection points 1631 and 1632, and the entrylocation's x coordinate is where the left or right front fendingpolyline has the smallest distance in the x direction from the linesegments between points 1631 and 1632. Similarly, the exit location 1644for the first overlap is on the line segment between intersection points1633 and 1634, and the exit location's x coordinate is where the left orright rear fending polyline has the largest distance in the x directionwith the line segments between 1633 and 1634. The entry location 1646for the second overlap is between intersection points 1635 and 1636, andthe entry location's x coordinate is where the left or right frontfending polyline has the smallest distance in the x direction from theline segments between points 1635 and 1636. Similarly, the exit location1648 for the first overlap is between intersection points 1637 and 1638,and the exit location's x coordinate is where the left or right rearfending polyline has the largest distance in the x direction with theline segments between 1637 and 1638. In these examples, there is nopossibility that the autonomous vehicle can safely be in the space 1612of FIG. 16A, but there may be a chance that the autonomous vehicle cansafely be in the space 1652 of FIG. 16B if the distance in thex-direction between intersection point 1634 and intersection 1635 is atleast as long as the length of the autonomous vehicle 100.

At block 1750, the autonomous vehicle is controlled in the autonomousdriving mode to avoid a collision with the object based on the collisionlocation. For instance, once the entry location and collision exitlocation are determined, the autonomous vehicle's computing devices canuse this information to determine how to better control the speed of theautonomous vehicle (e.g. drive faster or slower) in an autonomousdriving mode in order to avoid the object. While the entry location mayidentify where the autonomous vehicle will have collision with anobject, the exit location may identify how the autonomous vehicle canget out of the collision. This may be useful when a vehicle's computingdevices decide to overtake (proceed in front of rather than yielding to)an object's path. For example, referring to FIG. 15 which depicts thepolygon 600 at different points in time. This depiction of the polygon600 at different points in time actually represents a path of the objectover time.

FIG. 15 also indicates the object's travel direction as well as thetravel direction of vehicle 100. As time progresses (per the arrow tothe right), the object is expected to move towards the bottom right ofthe image and across a trajectory of the autonomous vehicle (or ratherthe autonomous vehicle's travel direction). Assuming the autonomousvehicle 100 could have collision with the object initially at thelocation of the shaded version of the polygon 600, the autonomousvehicle 100 can slow down and yield to the object of rather to theobject's path before the entry location. Alternatively, the autonomousvehicle 100 can drive faster and further than out than the exit locationof the polygon 600 before the object arrives at the location of theshaded version of the polygon. Therefore, the exit location is equallyimportant as the entry location.

As in the examples above, an object's contour is often modeled by a 2Dor 3D polygon, which bounds all of the points for an object detected byan autonomous vehicle's perception system. FIG. 25 is an example flowdiagram 2500 in accordance with aspects of the disclosure which may beperformed by one or more processors of one or more computing devices,such as processors 120 of computing devices 110, in order to maneuver avehicle having an autonomous driving mode. For instance, at block 2510,a polygon representative of the shape and location of an object detectedin an environment of the autonomous vehicle is received. For example, asthe autonomous vehicle 100 drives around, the perception system 172 maydetect and identify the shape and location of objects in the autonomousvehicle's environment. For instance, the perception system may providelocation information as well as a polygon representative of the shapeand location of each detected object. The polygon representative of theobject may be in any coordinate system, for instance, latitude andlongitude or a coordinate system of the autonomous vehicle 100 or asensor of the perception system 172.

A predicted trajectory for the object may also be determined by thebehavior modeling system 174, for instance using various behaviormodeling techniques as well as sensor data from the perception system172 for the object, other objects, as well as the autonomous vehicle'senvironment generally. A 2D or 3D path for the object may be determinedby moving the polygon representative of the object along the predictedtrajectory. Modeling for collisions is typically done by determining a2D or 3D path for the autonomous vehicle using the autonomous vehicle'sfuture trajectory and determining whether it will intersect with the 2Dor 3D path for the object.

However, due to uncertainty in the characteristics (size, shape,location, speed, acceleration, etc.) of the polygon representative ofthe object from the perception system as well as the behavior modelingsystem 174, there may be significant lateral uncertainty relative to theobject's traveling direction. As such, the 2D or 3D path for the objectcan be fairly inaccurate, resulting in possibly inaccurate collisiondeterminations when comparing to the 2D or 3D path of the autonomousvehicle.

FIG. 18 depicts an example of how the lateral uncertainty can berelevant to collision analysis in 2D. In this example, a polygon 1820representative of an object A at is depicted at 3 different times: timest0, t1, t2. Here, the object A may be detected at time t0 at a locationcorresponding to a location of a polygon 1820-t 0 representative of theobject A. The behavior modeling system 174 may predict that the object Awill follow a trajectory 1830 such that the object at will at some pointbe at locations of polygons 1820-t 1 and 1820-t 2. Polygons 1840-L and1840-R represent limits on lateral uncertainty for the location of theobject A at time t1. These limits may be set by operators and maycorrespond to either locations where the lateral uncertainty is greaterthan some predetermined limit on the uncertainty (e.g. 99.9% or 0.99 ormore or less) or some predetermined limit on a lateral distance for theuncertainty (e.g. 2 meters or more or less). For ease of understanding,the uncertainty for the location of the object at time t2 is notdepicted.

In addition, vehicle 100 may be following a planned trajectory oralternatively, the planning system 168 may have generated the plannedtrajectory for the autonomous vehicle to follow. The area 1810 mayrepresent a swept volume for vehicle 100 when following a plannedtrajectory and may be determined using the polygon 400 representative ofvehicle 100 or a more complex polygon with additional vertices. As canbe seen, the lateral uncertainty of the object may mean that theautonomous vehicle could collide with the object in a much wider areathan the location of polygon 1820-t 1. Such uncertainty may thus makedetermining a collision location (including entry and exit locations)for polygon 1820 at the location of the object at time t1 fairlyinaccurate.

To address these shortcomings, the lateral uncertainty of an object maybe modeled as a normal distribution with mean and standard deviation(sd) from the uncertainty output by the behavior modeling system 174.For instance, the uncertainty for an object's location (or rather thelocation of the polygon representative of the object) at differentpoints along the predicted trajectory may be provided by the behaviormodeling system 174. Referring to FIG. 19, which represents lateraluncertainty for the object A for the location of polygon 1820-t 1,lateral uncertainty increases moving away from the location of polygon182041 towards the location of polygon 1840-L and decreases moving awayfrom the location of polygon 1840-L towards the location of polygon1820-t 1. Similarly, lateral uncertainty increases moving away from thelocation of polygon 182041 towards the location of polygon 1840-R anddecreases moving away from the location of polygon 1840-R towards thelocation of polygon 1820-t 1. The distance between the outer edges of1840-L and 1840-R may define a “length” of the lateral uncertainty giventhe limits on lateral uncertainty for the location of the object A attime t1. The curve 1920 represents a lateral position probability curvefor object A at the time t2. The area under the curve 1920 provides theprobability of the object being between any two possible locations. Forexample, between the left two locations of polygons 1840-L and 1940-L,the probability is 0.3.

A probability of overlap with the path of the autonomous vehicle 100 maybe determined. In order to identify locations where the path of theautonomous vehicle is likely to intersect with the object, the computingdevices 110 may convert the planned trajectory of the autonomous vehicleinto a series of boxes representing the location of discrete points intime (e.g. the 2D or 3D path). Similarly, the computing devices 110 mayconvert the predicted trajectory for the object into a series of boxesrepresenting a swept path for the object (e.g. the 2D or 3D path). Thecomputing devices 110 may then search along the path of the autonomousvehicle to identify boxes (representing predicted locations) for theobject that are within a predetermined distance, such as 10 meters ormore or less, from the path of the object. In this regard, the computingdevices 110 may identify a planned future location for the autonomousvehicle as well as a corresponding predicted future location of theobject (i.e. the location of the identified box) that are within apredetermined distance from one another.

Distances between the object and the planned trajectory of theautonomous vehicle 100 may be determined by calculating the entry andexit distances between the object and some location of the autonomousvehicle on the planned trajectory of the autonomous vehicle for theidentified planned future location for the autonomous vehicle. Forexample, d1 may represent a distance when the object enters an overlapwith the planned trajectory of the autonomous vehicle, and d2 mayrepresent a distance when the object exits an overlap with the plannedtrajectory of the autonomous vehicle. The probability of overlap may bedetermined from the cumulative distribution function between d1/sd andd2/sd. In this regard, d1 and d2 correspond to the bounds of an overlapregion between the polygon representative of the object and the path ofthe autonomous vehicle.

To determine the distances d1 and d2, or rather, the position of thepolygon representative of the object when it will enter and exit theplanned trajectory of the autonomous vehicle, the polygon of the objectmay be decomposed into front and rear polylines. Returning to FIG. 25,at block 2520 a front polyline for the polygon representative of theobject is determined based on a heading and a contour of the object. Arear polyline for the polygon representative of the object may also bedetermined based on the contour of the object. To do so, the left-mostand right-most points relative to the object's heading may beidentified. This may be achieved using known techniques which may or maynot include converting the coordinate system of the object to one thatsimplifies the identifications. For instance, FIG. 20 is an examplepolygon 2000 representative of an object B detected in the vehicle'senvironment. FIG. 20 also identifies the object's heading 2010 accordingto a predicted trajectory for object B. From the heading, the polygonrepresentative of the object's front 2020 and rear 2022 may beidentified, as well as a left-most point 2030 and right-most point 2032.

From these left-most and right-most points, the polygon may be dividedinto front and rear polylines as depicted in the example of FIGS. 21 and22. For example, the front polyline 2110 corresponds to all vertices onthe front 2020 of the polygon 2000 representative of object B betweenand including the left-most point 2030 and right-most point 2032. Inaddition, the rear polyline 2210 corresponds to all vertices on the rear2022 of the polygon 2000 representative of object B between andincluding the left-most point 2030 and right-most point 2032. Each ofthe front polyline 2110 and rear polyline 2210 may actually representfront and rear width profiles for polygon representative of the object.

Returning to FIG. 25, at block 2530, coordinates of the front polylineare converted to the half-plane coordinate system. In addition,coordinates of the rear polyline may be converted to the half-planecoordinate system. In other words, each of the front and rear polylinesmay then be converted to half-plane coordinates. This may be done, forinstance, by finding the polygon representative of the object's extremepoints in half-plane's forward direction (“front”) and reverse direction(“rear”) with respect to the object's heading. In the example of FIG.21, the object's front-most point is point 2120, and in FIG. 22, theobject's rear-most point is point 2022. Turning to FIG. 23A, the fronthalfplane 2310 may be determined as a plane perpendicular to the heading2010 that passes through the point 2120. Turning to FIG. 23B, the rearhalfplane 2320 may be determined as a plane perpendicular to the heading2010 that passes through the point 2220. In addition, the identifiedplanned future location of the autonomous vehicle may also be convertedto each of the halfplane coordinate systems, e.g. front and rear, forthe object. In other words, each identified planned future location ofthe autonomous is converted to the coordinates of the object polygon'sfront and rear halfplane coordinate systems given the expected.

Collision locations, or rather, an entry location and an exit locationfor each of the front and rear polylines may be determined. Forinstance, returning to FIG. 25, at block 2540, an entry location and anexit location between the front polyline and a polygon representative ofthe object are determined using the converted coordinates for the frontand rear polylines as well as the converted coordinates for theidentified planned future location of the autonomous vehicle. Inaddition, an entry location and an exit location between the rearpolyline and the polygon representative of the object are determinedbased on the converted coordinates for the planned future location ofthe autonomous vehicle and using the converted coordinates for the frontand rear polylines.

Each entry or exit location may correspond to a particular line segmentof the front or rear polyline, which would collide with the autonomousvehicle (or rather, the planned trajectory of the autonomous vehicle)given the autonomous vehicle's current planned trajectory. While theentry location may identify where the autonomous vehicle will have acollision with an object, the exit location may identify how theautonomous vehicle can get out of a collision with a trajectory of theobject. Determining entry and exit locations may involve mathematically“sliding” or “moving” the front and rear polylines along the half-planedirection to determine where the front or rear polyline would intersectwith the path or at least some future predicted location of theautonomous vehicle as shown in the images below. For instance, as notedabove, rather than being a “swept” volume or area, the path of theautonomous vehicle may be thought of as a plurality of discrete boxes orpolygons representative of the autonomous vehicle at differentpositions. Thus, in some instances, whether the object is likely tointersect with the autonomous vehicle for a given trajectory may bedetermined by using a box or more complex polygon representative of theautonomous vehicle rather than the path.

In practice, this may involve subtracting the position or x coordinatesbetween two points (one on a polyline and one on the path) in order todetermine how far the polyline representative of the object (or theobject) has to move (or slide along the half-plane) to have a collisionwith the autonomous vehicle. An entry location may correspond to a pointon or a particular line segment of the polyline which would collide withthe autonomous vehicle given the autonomous vehicle's current or afuture trajectory. An exit location may correspond to a point on or aparticular line segment of the polyline having a most etreem x-valuewhich would collide with the autonomous vehicle given the autonomousvehicle's current or a future trajectory.

Turning to the example of FIG. 24, the polygon 400 representative of thevehicle 100 is depicted at an identified planned future location of theautonomous vehicle along the autonomous vehicle's planned trajectoryusing converted coordinates and with respect to both the front halfplane2310 and the rear halfplane 2320 for the object B. In this regard, thedistance between the X=0 values for each of the front and rearhalfplanes or the Length 2410 corresponds to the “length” of the lateraluncertainty given the limits on lateral uncertainty for the location ofthe object B at a time when the vehicle is at the planned futurelocation as described in the example above. Again, by mathematicallysliding the front polyline along the front halfplane and rear halfplane(starting at X=0 for each of the front and rear halfplanes), entrylocations may be determined. Each entry location may correspond to aline segment or point on the front or rear halfplane where the front orrear polyline representative of the object would initially make contactwith the polygon representative of the vehicle. In the example of FIG.24, the distance Front_Entry represents the distance between the X=0along the front halfplane 2310 and the line segment or point on thefront polyline 2110 where the front polyline 2110 would initially makecontact with the polygon 400. The distance Rear_Entry represents thedistance between the X=0 along the rear halfplane 2310 and the linesegment or point on the rear polyline 2210 where the rear polyline 2210would initially make contact with the polygon 400.

When determining the exit locations, rather than using the point wherethe front or rear polyline would no longer make contact with thepolygon, the most extreme points or x-coordinates in of the vehicle inthe front or rear halfplane coordinate systems, respectively, are used.In the example of FIG. 24, the distance Front_Exit represents thedistance between the X=0 along the front halfplane 2310 and the linesegment or point on the front polyline 2110 where the front polyline2110 would last intersect with the most extreme x-coordinate of thepolygon 400 in the front halfplane coordinate system after beingmathematically slid along the rear halfplane. The distance Rear Exitrepresents the distance between the X=0 along the rear halfplane 2310and the line segment or point on the rear polyline 2210 where the rearpolyline 2210 would last intersect with the most extreme x-coordinate ofthe polygon 400 in the front halfplane coordinate system after beingmathematically slid along the rear halfplane.

The distances d1 and d2 may then be determined from the entry and exitlocations for the front and rear half planes. For example, d1 may bedetermined by taking the minimum x-coordinate value of the entrylocation of the front polyline and the x-coordinate value of the exitlocation of the rear polyline projected to front halfplane. D2 may bedetermined by taking the maximum x-coordinate value of the exit locationof the front polyline and the x-coordinate of the entry location of therear polyline projected to the front polyline. Put differently becausethe coordinates of the polygon and the polylines are in the half-planecoordinate system, the distances d1 and d2 may be determined using theequation: {d1=min(Front_Entry, Length−Rear_Entry}, d2=max(Front_Exit,Length−Rear_exit)}, where Front_Entry represents the x-coordinate ordistance for the entry location for the front polyline, Rear_Entryrepresents the x-coordinate or distance for the entry location for therear polyline, Front_Exit represents the x-coordinate or distance forthe exit location for the front polyline, Rear_Exit represents thex-coordinate of the exit location for the rear polyline, and Lengthrepresents the aforementioned “length” of the lateral uncertainty giventhe limits on lateral uncertainty for the location of an object at atime when the vehicle is at the planned future location. These values,d1 and d2, may then be used to determine the probability of overlap(e.g. a collision) at the given location as described above.

In the examples described herein, the particular locations of thepolygon 400 representation of the object B are discrete locations of theautonomous vehicle 100 according to a planned trajectory where theplanned trajectory of the autonomous vehicle and the predictedtrajectory of the object overlap. As such, if there are multiplelocations at which the planned and projected trajectories would overlap,the aforementioned determinations of collision locations andprobabilities of overlap may be performed for such multiple locations.

Returning to FIG. 26, at block 2650, the autonomous vehicle iscontrolled in the autonomous driving mode to avoid a collision with theobject based on the entry location and the exit location. Once again,the collision locations may be useful when a vehicle's computing devicesdecide to avoid or even overtake an object. For instance, the distancesd1 and d2 may be used to determine a probability of overlap as describedabove. Once the probability of overlap is determined, the autonomousvehicle's computing devices can use this information to determine how tobetter control the speed of the autonomous vehicle (e.g. drive faster orslower) in an autonomous driving mode in order to avoid the object. Insome instances, the autonomous vehicle may even generate a newtrajectory.

Although the features and examples herein relate to determiningcollision locations for autonomous vehicles, such features may also beutilized for non-autonomous vehicles, or vehicles which operate in onlymanual or semiautonomous driving modes, or for autonomous vehicles whichare not operating in a fully autonomous driving mode. For instance, nsemiautonomous or manual driving modes, this method can help to evaluateor predict the probabilistic risk of the future driving trajectory,which can also enhance the safety of the system.

FIG. 26 is another example flow diagram 2800 in accordance with aspectsof the disclosure which may be performed by one or more processors ofone or more computing devices, such as processors 120 of computingdevices 110, in order to maneuver a vehicle having an autonomous drivingmode. At block 2610, a polygon representative of the shape and locationof a first object is received. At block 2620, a polyline contourrepresentation of a portion of a polygon representative of the shape andlocation of a second object is received. The polyline contourrepresentation is in half-plane coordinates and includes a plurality ofvertices and line segments. At block 2630, coordinates of the polygonrepresentative of the first object are converted to the half-planecoordinate system. At block 2640, a collision location between thepolyline contour representation and the polygon representative of thefirst object is determined using the converted coordinates. At block2650, the autonomous vehicle is then controlled in the autonomousdriving mode to avoid a collision based on the collision location. Inthis example, the first object may be the autonomous vehicle, and thesecond object is an object in an environment of the autonomous vehicle.Alternatively, the second object may be the autonomous vehicle, and thefirst object is an object in an environment of the autonomous vehicle.In addition, the collision location may include an entry location forthe collision as well as an exit location for the collision.

The features described herein may provide an efficient, yet realisticrepresentation of objects for collision analysis. For instance, thefeatures described herein may allow for an efficient and accurate methodto compute the overlapping probability between an object and anautonomous vehicle's trajectory. In addition, in the case of a polylinerepresentation of the autonomous vehicle, because the representation ofthe autonomous vehicle is not generalized to a two-dimensional rectanglethat is larger than the actual dimensions of the autonomous vehicle,this can significantly reduce the swept volume of the autonomousvehicle, which in turn, may allow the autonomous vehicle to pass throughmore narrow passages and closer to other objects. As noted above, thegoal of collision detection is ultimately to be conservative and detectany possible collision. However, using a polyline representation mayallow for the calculation of larger distances between the autonomousvehicle and other objects, without compromising the nature of theconservative estimate.

In addition, because the polyline contour representation need onlycorrespond to half of a vehicle and only a portion of that (before orafter the peak) is needed when performing the collision analysis, thistoo can significantly reduce memory and processing resources. As notedabove, the polyline contour representation also allows for adetermination of which portion of the autonomous vehicle will beinvolved in a collision (e.g., collides with mirror or bumper) ratherthan simply a point on a rectangle which may or may not actuallycorrespond to a physical point on the autonomous vehicle. Further,because the monotonicity of the y coordinate of the polyline contourrepresentation, once it is known how deep an object overlaps with theautonomous vehicle's trajectory, which line segment to use for thecollision analysis can be determined quickly. In addition to vehiclesand real-time decision making, the features described herein may also beuseful for objects other than vehicles including virtual representationsof objects, such as simulations including testing circumstances as wellas video games. For instance, the features described herein may be usedto determine collision locations and exit locations for those virtualobjects making the simulations themselves more efficient.

When used in conjunction with actual vehicles, because the polylinecontour representation is more nuanced that a rectangular polygonrepresentative of a vehicle or an object in the vehicle's environment,the features described herein may effectively increase the calculateddistances between the autonomous vehicle and other objects which canalso reduce the likelihood of false positive collisions with otherobjects, reduce the likelihood of a vehicle becoming stranded (unable toproceed) because it is falsely blocked by another object, and reduceocclusions caused by other objects as the autonomous vehicle may be ableto get closer to or nudge around the object. All of these benefits, inturn, can enable the autonomous vehicle to better maneuver aroundobjects, in some cases, drive faster, and also reduce the need forevasive (or otherwise uncomfortable) maneuvers which can improve overalldriving comfort for passengers.

Unless otherwise stated, the foregoing alternative examples are notmutually exclusive, but may be implemented in various combinations toachieve unique advantages. As these and other variations andcombinations of the features discussed above can be utilized withoutdeparting from the subject matter defined by the claims, the foregoingdescription of the embodiments should be taken by way of illustrationrather than by way of limitation of the subject matter defined by theclaims. In addition, the provision of the examples described herein, aswell as clauses phrased as “such as,” “including” and the like, shouldnot be interpreted as limiting the subject matter of the claims to thespecific examples; rather, the examples are intended to illustrate onlyone of many possible embodiments. Further, the same reference numbers indifferent drawings can identify the same or similar elements.

1. A method of controlling a vehicle having an autonomous driving mode,the method comprising: receiving a polygon representative of the shapeand location of an object detected in an environment of the autonomousvehicle; accessing a polyline contour representation of the autonomousvehicle representing no more than half of a contour of the autonomousvehicle in a half-plane coordinate system, the polyline contourrepresentation including a plurality of vertices and line segments;converting coordinates of the polygon representative of the object tothe half-plane coordinate system; determining a collision locationbetween the polyline contour representation and the polygonrepresentative of the object using the converted coordinates; andcontrolling the autonomous vehicle in the autonomous driving mode toavoid a collision with the object based on the collision location. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein the polyline contour representation isdefined as a vehicle width profile drawn from the autonomous vehicle'sfront bumper to the autonomous vehicle's rear bumper.
 3. The method ofclaim 2, wherein the polyline contour representation has at most twoconsecutive points that has the maximum y coordinate which is theautonomous vehicle's maximum half width.
 4. The method of claim 3,wherein the autonomous vehicle's maximum half width corresponds to halfof a width of the autonomous vehicle measured between the autonomousvehicle's mirrors or lateral sensors.
 5. The method of claim 3, whereina y coordinate value on the polyline contour representationmonotonically increases to a point with a maximum y coordinate, thenmonotonically decreases such that the polyline contour representationhas at most one peak.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining thecollision location between the polyline contour representation and therepresentation of the object includes using a front fending polylinecontour representation when the autonomous vehicle is moving forward,wherein the front fending polyline contour representation corresponds toa portion of the polyline contour representation in front of the maximumy coordinate.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein determining thecollision location between the polyline contour representation and therepresentation of the object includes using a rear fending polylinecontour representation when the autonomous vehicle is moving in reverse,wherein the rear fending polyline contour representation corresponds toa portion of the polyline contour representation after the maximum ycoordinate.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the collisionlocation includes, for a line segment of the polygon representative ofthe object determining a penetration point (D) into the half-planecoordinate system.
 9. The method of claim 8, further comprising,determining a distance between D and a line segment of the polylinecontour representation.
 10. The method of claim 8, further comprising,finding one of the line segments on the polyline contour representationthat has a same penetration depth as D.
 11. The method of claim 1,wherein when there are multiple collision locations betweenrepresentation of the object and the polyline contour representationhaving a same y coordinate, determining the collision location furtherincludes comparing an x coordinate for a first collision location to anx coordinate for a second collision location.
 12. The method of claim 1,wherein the polyline contour representation corresponds to a widthprofile of the autonomous vehicle along a centerline of the autonomousvehicle.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein an origin of the half-planecoordinate system is located at a point corresponding to a furthest xcoordinate on the autonomous vehicle's front bumper and the greatest ycoordinate representing half of a width dimension of the autonomousvehicle.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein the collision locationcorresponds to one of the plurality of vertices or line segments. 15.The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a collision exitlocation between the polyline contour representation and therepresentation of the object, and wherein controlling the autonomousvehicle is further based on the collision exit location.
 16. A systemfor controlling a vehicle having an autonomous driving mode, the systemcomprising one or more processors configured to: receive a polygonrepresentative of the shape and location of an object detected in anenvironment of the autonomous vehicle; access a polyline contourrepresentation of the autonomous vehicle representing no more than halfof a contour of the autonomous vehicle in a half-plane coordinatesystem, the polyline contour representation including a plurality ofvertices and line segments; convert coordinates of the polygonrepresentative of the object to the half-plane coordinate system;determine a collision location between the polyline contourrepresentation and the polygon representative of the object using theconverted coordinates; and control the autonomous vehicle in theautonomous driving mode to avoid a collision with the object based onthe collision location.
 17. The system of claim 16, wherein determiningthe collision location includes, for a line segment of the polygonrepresentative of the object determining a penetration point (D) intothe half-plane coordinate system.
 18. The system of claim 17, whereinthe autonomous vehicle's maximum half width corresponds to half of awidth of the autonomous vehicle measured between the autonomousvehicle's mirrors or lateral sensors.
 19. The system of claim 18,wherein the polyline contour representation is defined as a vehiclewidth profile drawn from the autonomous vehicle's front bumper to theautonomous vehicle's rear bumper.
 20. The system of claim 19, whereinthe polyline contour representation has at most two consecutive pointsthat has the maximum y coordinate which is the autonomous vehicle'smaximum half width.
 21. The system of claim 20, wherein a y coordinatevalue on the polyline contour representation monotonically increases toa point with a maximum y coordinate, then monotonically decreases suchthat the polyline contour representation has at most one peak.
 22. Thesystem of claim 16, further comprising the autonomous vehicle.